After a series of ruthless and
mysterious murders delivered by the rare Shaolin Palm Technique, three innocents
- a stout-hearted monk, a beautiful maiden skilled in martial arts, and a rowdy
gambler - are fingered for the crimes. As they journey to clear their names and
question the temple behind the killings, they find their wits and fighting
skills put to the ultimate test before discovering the startling truth. Boasting
some of the most eye-popping stunts in the classic Shaw Brothers canon, this
delightful blend of breathless action and brain-teasing mystery was directed by
master fight choreographer Tang Chia.

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The
Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate:

Audio

Stated as
'Chinese
(Dolby Digital 5.1) and original Chinese mono'

Subtitles

English,
None

Features

Release Information:Studio: Image Entertainment

Aspect Ratio:Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1

Edition Details:

• Stills
gallery
• Shaw trailers
• Other titles you might like

DVD Release Date: February 12th, 2008Keep Case
Chapters: 17

Comments:

After all this time in DVD production
- Image Entertainment (and Kino for that matter) don't seem to get 'it'.
Here they are charging $18 for a mediocre, interlaced transfer with no
viable supplements. It is dual-layered and anamorphic but the image is a
bit hazy - really nothing special. I am a bit disappointed as I had high
hopes for their 'Eastern Masters' series. In my opinion this just
doesn't cut the mustard. The visible 'combing' gives the film a rather
weak representation - tack onto that dullish colors. I've
requested my wife's help about the audio track. IMdb says it is in
Cantonese and Mandarin.
Image Entertainment don't seem to be able to differentiate - calling it
'Chinese' (a 5.1 and original mono). My wife says both tracks are
Mandarin. It seems like a DUB to me. Anyway, I won't belabor this as a
negative as I am so unsure. It does have removable English subtitles.
NOTE: Ian says 'This film should
be in Cantonese, not Mandarin. Shaws, like many HK filmmakers, shoot
without sound but the film is designed for a particular dialect. The HK
DVD has Cantonese audio but its badly remixed'.
(thanks Ian!)

The film,
in my limited opinion, is in the lower tier of Shaw Bros. films (from
what I have seen). It still has some great action moments but it just
doesn't have that intangible appeal that seem to come with most other of
this genre - especially from Run Run Shaw. There is a 'Production Stills
Gallery' (15 images), 16 Shaw trailers (maybe the best thing about the
disc) and 13 other martial arts trailers. There are at least two other
editions of this film on DVD (a previous 2002 US - very poor - and an
HK), possibly more, and I feel confident that this doesn't represent the
best transfer available.